Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood → Port St. Lucie
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood to Port St. Lucie is unfavorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 95.5 to 100.2 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $423/mo.
- -$2,955
- BLS median salary lower in Port St. Lucie
- 431 to 210
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 17.5:1 to 17.8:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $3,061
- DOL infant care higher / yr in Port St. Lucie
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + Lower violent crime rate
Cons of Moving
- - 5% higher cost of living
- - $423/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - $3K lower median salary
- - More expensive childcare
- - More environmental violations
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 95.5 to 100.2 (ratio 1.05), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $423/mo ($5,076/yr) from $1,334 in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood to $1,757 in Port St. Lucie.
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood still leads on 6 of 7 federal dimensions, the origin keeps the edge. Port St. Lucie sits #306 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (bottom third of the corpus). Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood is #325/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Unfavorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $2,955 lower ($64,968 → $62,013). Labor-market size: 584,240 tracked jobs at origin vs 160,790 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors the destination: Florida scores 62 (C, #23/51) vs Michigan at 49 (F, #42/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 72
- Property tax
- 59
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 16
- Income tax
- 100
- Property tax
- 67
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 12
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood to see what you'd need to earn in Port St. Lucie to maintain the same purchasing power.
Port St. Lucie metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026